Skullgirls is a fast-paced 2-D fighting game that puts players in control of fierce warriors in an extraordinary Dark Deco world. Featuring all-new game systems which test the skills of veteran fighting game fans while also making the genre enjoyable and accessible to newcomers.

October 27, 2014

- Fade out character select music before a fight instead of just cutting it off. Been wanting to do this for years.
- IPS display in training mode continues to display the previous combo's information until you start a new combo or tag to someone else. Thanks Zidiane.
- Eliza has a voice clip when tagging out to Fukua. Thanks SpaceCadetKeon for pointing out she didn't.

October 23, 2014

General- Pressing Start on a character's color choice will now pick a random color. Thanks Evilweevle for reminding me that I had this on the list. (Highlight character -> Start -> Start.)
- Double color #21, another IGG backer color. O Trin-i-ty, O Trin-i-ty...

- BUGFIX! Fix an obscure issue where under certain conditions the save file might not have been closed on load, leading to save corruption next time. Also make the game automatically load backup02 if the most recent save is corrupted. Maybe this fixes things, maybe it breaks EVERYONE'S EVERYTHING! Can't make an omelette, etc. Special thanks B E D B O Y S.

- Bugfix: If Teams number of rounds is set to more than 1, the last round will no longer use the darker lifebars that Solos uses for a player's last lifebar. 1v1 still uses it.
- Bugfix: Fortune's Cat Spike is not messed up when facing left, oops. Thanks eescell, you are GREAT!

Steam Big Picture

Special Offer

Buy Skullgirls and receive access to the separate Skullgirls Beta, so you can help Lab Zero test out future gameplay changes and characters!

Featured DLC

Thanks to the generosity of our Indiegogo backers, FREE Character DLC will be available to all!

In the coming year, we will release the following DLC characters, ALL OF WHICH will be FREE for a LIMITED TIME:

Eliza

Beowulf

Robo-Fortune

Buying now ensures that you get these amazing DLC characters free!

About This Game

Skullgirls is a fast-paced 2-D fighting game that puts players in control of fierce warriors in an extraordinary Dark Deco world. Featuring all-new game systems which test the skills of veteran fighting game fans while also making the genre enjoyable and accessible to newcomers.

Skullgirls is a modern take on classic arcade fighters with a hand-drawn high-definition twist. It’s a one-of-a-kind, action-packed competition complete with awesome combos and an intriguing backstory.

key Features:

Classic six-button play gives each character a huge variety of attacks and special moves

Variable Tag Battle system allows players to pit different size teams of one, two or three characters against one another

Custom Assists let you outfit your team with a huge variety of attacks for nearly endless strategic possibilities

A Robust Anti-Infinite Combo system keeps competitive play free of abusive tactics

Infinite combo prevention system (so combos are more complex and ironically less escapable)

Asshats on motorcycles

Strong female characters (if you're into that)

Sexually suggestive clothing (if you're into that)

A whopping eight people to play online with

Controller support

A boat made entirely out of blood

You may have heard there is glorious anime cleavage in this game. You have not been misinformed. Just go ahead and buy it now if that's what you're here for. I'll be here, making disapproving faces at my computer and pretending you can see me.

I've been told Skullgirls is one of the most technical fighting games to exist. A goodly few of the mechanics were designed in part by fighter champion Mike "Mike Z" Zaimont. As a salty casual who can't beat the tutorial but still makes a ham-fisted attempt at playing anyway, I know I've only scratched the surface of what can be done with this game (a process akin to scratching the surface of the moon). I've seen videos of high-level play, and it is astonishing. So if you're somebody who can decipher the phrase "qc.P+P -> a.HK -> dp" you'll find a lot to love here. If you can't, that's no reason not to buy this game. The combat is fun and engaging even if you can't explain to your friends what's happening in absurdly small acronyms.

Skullgirls has 13 playable characters, each with their own engrossing story modes and unique playstyles (up from 9 in the wake of a devastatingly successful Indiegogo campaign). At least 2 more characters are still on the way. If you grab them fresh out of the oven, they're free, too! But don't burn your hand. Then you won't be able to play Skullgirls, and that would be unfortunate.

I've been beaten senselessly by half the characters on normal or higher.The boss has wiped the floor with me more times than I can count.I can barely pull off 15 hit combos while the AI can seamlessly pull off 30-hit comboes ending in a Blockbuster every other attack.

And yet I still keep coming back to this game.Why, you ask?Simply because it's the greatest fighter game I've ever played.You will find yourself playing this game over and over with its easy to learn, difficult to master playstyle, with anything from a ridiculously easy Sleepwalk mode for the starters to a downright nasty Nightmare mode for those who know what they're doing and do it well.You will fall in love with the playstyles of each and every one of these characters, from Filia, the girl with a fanged monster for hair, to Peacock, the living cartoon character, to Ms. Fortune, the zombie catgirl who can decapitate herself at will, and everyone in between.You will find yourself in awe at the amazing background scenery and music of every last stage, from Maplecrest's calming "The Lives We Left Behind" to the techno beats of Lab 8's "Paved With Good Intentions" to the rocking jazz of Under the Bridge's "Unfinished Business".You will laugh at every single one of these characters' lines, from Big Band's constant musical references, to Ms. Fortune's terrible as crud puns, to Valentine's dark nurse humor, and all of the others as well.And once this is all said and done, you'll agree with me when I say - this is the best 2D fighter that there ever was... and, believe it or not, with two more DLC characters planned for release soon, the ride is only just beginning.

Positives:+ Incredible detail toward aesthetics/fluidity+ Thousands of unique, individual, hand-drawn frames for each character+ Strong, diverse female cast+ Tight, responsive combat and movement+ Short, but sweet story mode(s) that delve into the overworld and give each character a whole new dimension+ Integrated GGPO frame delay ensures minimal latency (lag) in almost all online games+ Intuitive tutorials anyone can follow+ Lab Zero Games (developers) deeply care about their game and their audience, and consistently update the game to be more balanced and bug-free+ Great value. Example: I spent $15 on this game, I have well over 200 cumulative hours (Though I'm still considered "medium" when it comes to collective playtime.)+ Great Soundtrack+ Recommended by TotalBiscuit. http://youtu.be/otb7K6jg324+ Integrated art gallery featuring images created by the community+ Fervently supportive fanbase+ And last but not least: Fanservice

Negatives:- Relatively steep learning curve (with regards to player vs player)- Small playable cast (8 in original release, with 5 additional DLC for a total of 13...)- Aforementioned short story mode(s)- Fairly saturated with memes/references (not necessarily bad, but it may irk some people)- Big Band [cough] [cough]- Not optimal for keyboard players (unless you're like me, who has 200+ hours with only a keyboard)- Additional DLC characters only free for first three months of release, then they're $5 each- Extremely long combos means you will sometimes not even be given the chance to fight back- Fairly small playerbase- And last but not least: Fanservice

Verdict: A lot of time, effort, and money was put forth to bring this game to existence. Made by developers that care for an audience that cares, and is to date my favorite game, hands down. It's beautiful, it's loads of fun, it only costs 15 bucks, and it's by all means worth playing.

(UPDATE: Decided to make a serious review, located further down. Apologies as it's mediocre and I'm not good at reviews)

PLEASE READ!!!I'm a Christian mom and I found my son playing this game and was extremely disappointed in him :(((. He was kicking, hitting, and doing all sorts of devilish nonsense. There was even a character with the F-word as her name (Which he was playing as)!

So I did the right thing any normal mother would do. I grounded him and told him why he's not allowed to play Fukua: because she is a ♥♥♥♥ing OP character who needs to be nerfed. Skullgirls is the dankest ♥♥♥♥ ever and he's sitting here being a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ playing bad characters that don't require skill. That little ♥♥♥♥♥ needs to catch up on his combo skills because I own his ♥♥♥ everytime as Filia (The REAL Filia, not that stupid green thing). Please spread this around and do the right thing by teaching your kids to play real Skullgirls that require skill and don't rely on BS. 1 like = 1 prayer.

this is a satire review, im not actually a christian mom. im some nerd who plays vidya gaims. serious review below

First ImpressionsSo I've never played a fighting game that uses 6 buttons and a stick (I don't know what that's called) or any fighting game so I was going into Skullgirls blind. I didn't have any interest in this game or genre before I saw my friends playing it. I was facisnated by the animations, graphics, and how smooth it looked. The first time I played it I chose Valentine and mashed buttons on a PS3 controller not caring for blockbusters, blocking, or combos; I was having too much fun even without knowing a lot of the game's functions.

GameplayAs I mentioned before, I don't own a controller or 6 button gamepad, so I play with a keyboard. While the game may play a lot better on a controller, I found it very easy to play with a keyboard. The learning curve isn't that hard making it very easy for a newbie like me to get into. Any newcomers to a fighting game scene could learn how to play this game very easily, every move and blockbuster is just as easy to do on a keyboard as it is as controller. Skullgirls doesn't have a lot of characters to choose from, but all of those characters have unique playstyles that can go from fast light-hitting, quick aerial combat, to slow but powerful heavy-damaging. But all characters have light, medium, and heavy attacks but some characters are more attuned to a certain playstyle. And every character has unique blockbusters that can turn the tides of a fight when used properly along with combos. Combos can go on for quite some time, but they aren't infinite. Infinity breakers come in to play from what I could tell when the combo gets sloppy or slows down, giving you time to breath. Blocking, parrying, grabbing, armor, etc. are all also in the game can be used to your advantage but can be countered to an extent. Overall the game has very solid gameplay and I would recommened it to both newcomers and veterans to this genre.

GraphicsThe game looks great with an anime-esque draw style where every frame is edited perfectly to make it look as smooth as possible. The game also runs great, there's no drops in framerate anywhere to be seen and it looks amazing. All the characters look great, in both a sexy and badass way. The designs of the characters influence how they fight and look. Filia has a parasite on her head (Samson) and uses him as a way of combat. Big Band uses a variety of instruments, Valentine a bunch of medical things, and etc. It's worth playing a character just for their aesthetic. it's also nice to look at their boobs

OverallThe game is great, it's a solid fighting game with a great diverse cast that can do different things. The addition of more characters is really great. The price tag of 15 bucks is really fair and on sale it's a must buy. Anyone can get into this game no matter how they view the genre. Skullgirls is an amazing game, and you should get it and play it.

I beat the crap out of a demented 13 year old who has bombs coming out of her dress while in a thigh high skirt that flashed my panties every time I did anything. When I won, my hair changed into a person and used me as a scarf.I like this game.

But yeah, Skullgirls is a great game with interesting character designs and stories, a great fighting system, and a unique overall presentation. I know some folks may be turned away by the large (in more ways than one!) selection of female fighters, but this game is pretty damn fun!

Skullgirls is a game full of things to love, which can all be appreciated on their own, which all come together to make a unique experience.

First, the visuals: Skullgirls is easily one of the most visually impressive games you'll ever play. Every single animation is drawn in incredible detail, everything looking extremely smooth and natural. It is worth playing almost for the visuals alone.

Next, the controls: Keyboard controls are done well, but a controller is highly recommended for anyone who wants to fully explore this game, and the abundant movelists, combos, and other features. The tutorials are also far better suited for preparing a player using a controller, rather than a keyboard.

If you're a veteran at fighting games, you'll be pleased at how 'technically' impressive Skullgirls is, allowing for a ton of ways to chain attacks, get massive combos and feel in control. Players who are newer to fighters don't have to worry, there is a tutorial covering a massive amount of game mechanics, and the movelists are easy to understand. As always with fighter games, it can be quite relentless to try and get to high skill levels and pull off every move and mechanic with ease, it does take a lot of practice.

For casual players and veterans alike, there's a ton to enjoy. Story mode covers a pretty cool plot, each character's story really helps to flesh them out and make them feel a bit more alive. You fight your way through a series of matches, a few adding a bit to the story through pre-fight dialog, until you reach a pretty challening final boss where you conclude that character's story. There is a variety of difficulty options available, making it accessible to both beginner and hardcore players.

The character roster is relatively limited, with 8 Fighters being available in the base game, and 4 added DLC fighters (and a Hidden one) available through DLC. It is worth mentioning that if you own the base game upon a DLC's release, it is available for free for a significantly long time. Otherwise, you have to buy the DLCs separately. This can be quite a turn-off for some players, but given the depth of each character it is more than enough to get a ton of enjoyment out of Skullgirls.

Gameplay wise, every character has a variety of moves. There are light, medium and heavy punches and kicks (varying in range, damage, speed, etc on each character) as well as specials, crouched attacks, jumping attacks, and all the other things common to all fighters. Every character has varying difficulties, making them better or worse for less skilled players. A newcomer can likely buttonmash their way through a few PVP matches or the story mode, but on higher difficulties or vs someone who is skilled at fighters will be a brick wall to that strategy.

For many players, the multiplayer is the most important part. From a technical standpoint, the multiplayer was done well and can provide a lag-free environment to anyone who wants to get into it. The community isn't HUGE, but there's always players to face, but as a word of warning, most players you encounter online are very skilled. It can be near impossible to get into as a newcomer to fighters or to Skullgirls. For this reason I do recommend playing this game locally if possible.

In conclusion :

Every moment is enjoyable with the beautiful animation and artstyle, there's a challenge to be found if you're looking for one, and there's a casual, enjoyable experience for those who just want to appreciate the art, voice acting and story.And for those reaons I'm giving this game a recommendation!

This game is extremely fun to play. It has a wonderful soundtrack, the animation is amazing, and it has a very helpful tutorial system. It's a great game for the more hardcore player, and even for casuals is a very fun experience. The biggest faults I have with it are the unreasonable boss, and the slightly weak story.

This review might be a bit mis-informed, considering I've never owned a fighting game other then a few early Street Fighter games, which I didn't play much. That being said, I really love this game. It's just enjoyable.

I'd say this is a very good game for beginners to the genre. The tutorials that come with the game are just fantastic. There are 16 tutorials plus one for each individual character. These tutorials will teach you what mix-ups are, what "Hit confirming" is, how to punish opponents, etc, while the character-specific tutorials teach you all the moves of the character and how to use them. There's plenty of information here that'll be very useful to beginners.There are 2 different single player modes, multiplayer lobbies and quick matches, and a training room for you to mess around with.The two single player modes include story and arcade.

There is a different story for each character. Story mode follows your character and their mission to get the "Skull Heart", something that will give you one wish in exchange for becoming the "Skullgirl", who is basically evil. Story consists of a bit of text, then a couple matches, then more text, then a boss, and ocassionally another match after the boss. I don't know how long story modes usually are in fighting games, but I wish these were a little longer. You don't fight every character in the roster in these story modes, only a few. The boss isn't too enjoyable, for me; she uses lots of cheap tactics and isn't really a "Fight", as I always find myself spamming one attack until she dies, because you can't use any combos. I would've much prefered a normal fight but with a stronger enemy. The little stories the characters go through are quite interesting sometimes. I liked learning the backstories, and some are nicely done, like Squigly and Painwheel, although with other characters you don't get too much information about them.

Arcade mode is a randomly generated challenge where you fight lots of different characters in different numbers (You can have up to 3 people on your team, which I'll get to later), and it is more fun then the 1v1 fights you get in story mode. This mode is also a lot longer then a character's story mode because any 1v1 fights have 2 rounds. At the end of Arcade you fight the boss from story mode. Something I really liked about arcade is that even if you don't have the DLC characters, you can still fight them. This lets you see if you like the way one looks, and this led me to buying Squigly instead of Big Band.

There are 6 difficulty settings, from Sleepwalk to Nightmare. Nightmare isn't as hard as I'd like it to be, although it makes the final boss unfair, and a really frustrating difficulty spike.

Training is where you'll try out different combos and characters and things. Not quite sure, again, how this holds up to other fighting games, but I liked the different options I could switch on and off to help me practice, including hitboxes, icons that show you what you are pressing, grids, hitstun bars, slow-motion, recording, and settings like how much meter you start with, among other things.Something I really felt was missing from Single Player was a straight up single match mode. Sometimes I want to try out certain strategies against certain characters without having to do story or arcade. This would've been nice but it isn't too major of a problem I have with the game.

As for multiplayer, there's a tournament mode, ranked play, lobbies, and local play.

Local play is playing with someone you're physically next to on the same computer. For this you'll need another controller for the other person to play with.

Lobbies is where you'll usually go when you want to play with a friend from different computers, or play unranked.Then, most importantly, is ranked quick match. Quick match has a nice feature that lets you choose if you want to fight people from the same country as you. Sadly, there aren't really enough players to make this useful.Online is actually very balanced. While there are characters I hate fighting (Painwheel and Fukua are especially annoying), for the most part, I feel like no one character is too overpowered. Filia might be the one person who is stronger then other people, but I wouldn't say she warrants a nerf. Of course, I don't speak for expert level play, so in actual tournaments it might be widely unbalanced.Although, I always feel like people are repeating the same team. Wether it be Valentine-Double, or Peacock-Big Band, I feel like people copy what they see work or who is high in the tiers. This might be a combination of the problems of a low playerbase and slightly small roster, but I still feel like it is a issue.While ranked online does have a leaderboard and (If I'm correct, this is what I've heard) a matchmaking system, the central problem of there not being enough players will have the game pair you up with people way above your skill level.And when I say that online isn't very populated, I don't mean it is impossible to find a match. It's still possible to find a match without waiting, but there just aren't enough people for some of the features in ranked online to really be useful. There's also hardly any lag online.

As of now there are eight characters, two of which are locked in story mode in the beginning, 3 DLC characters, with two more confirmed, and 1 secret character, who is selected by going to the tile underneath Double. This is considered a small roster to my knowledge, but I found this a plus in my opinion, being new to fighting games. It allowed me to focus more on one character.All of the characters have different playstyles, though. Each one feels unique.

The game looks fanatstic. The backgrounds for each stage are beautiful, the soundtrack is mostly jazz and is enjoyable to listen to, and the characters all look very interesting and different.The art style for the game is probably one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game. It strays away from the generic anime style that is so common now into a more cartoonishly-exaggerated style. The only character design I found underwhelming was Parasoul. She always looked kind of plain to me, near other characters.And yes, the characters in this game have hips and breasts as wide as trains, if you're turned off (or on) the game by that.

There is also an art gallery if you like collecting everything.

Fighting is very fluent in this game. It always feels rewarding to hit someone and pull off combos. Each character has 3 punches and 3 kicks, with crouching, jumping, and sometimes forward/back variations to these, along with an array of special moves. Characters also have at least one grab, and their own Blockbuster attacks. Blockbuster attacks use meter that builds up after hitting opponents or being hit. Blockbusters use 1 to 5 meter, 5 being the limit.The way the anti-infinite combo system works in this is that you can break out of an opponent's combo after they have repeated a sequence of attacks in a combo twice.Then there are resets, which is where you end your combo so that you can instantly start it again. This is combated by the "drama" value, which, if you're hit too much in a sequence of time, you can burst out of the combo even if you were reset. Of course, there are burst baits, but these require you to be smart about bursting.

You can have up to 3 fighters in one match you can tag to and use assists from. The more characters you have, the weaker they get, so you're more evenly matched fighting 1 character with 3. This is nice if you want to practice with just one character, or if you don't want to juggle 3 at a time.

Overall I'd really recommend this game. It's great to play with your friends, online, or even alone. I definitely think it is worth its money, considering it's a ton of fun, there's lots to play to last you a while, and that there are more characters on the way. Definitely pick this up.

Genuine fun, hands down. This is coming from someone who openly competes in fighting games. Seriously, if you like fighting games or have even a particle of passing intrest in them, get it. I cannot praise this game enough for its unique quirks and amazing stage backgrounds. Everyone will find a character that they like, I can almost bet on it.

Skullgirls is a modern take on classic arcade fighters with a hand-drawn high-definition twist. It’s a one-of-a-kind, action-packed competition complete with awesome combos and an intriguing backstory. Unlike other assorted fighting games, the game has a more feminine take on storyline and characters which is quite a relief considering most fighting games these days tend to become a full out sausage fest with all male characters who have the exact same personality and character development. The game is indeedly challenging and is very recommended to all fighting game coniseurs. All in all, this game is an exhilirating breath of fresh air and I would definetely recommend it (Unless some of you males are too scared to lose your masculinity to a fighting game or whatever :3)

Genre - Western Anime 2D Fighting gameI played this on the Xbox 360 and I thought it seemed okay but there was limited characters and a bit too hard and un-rewarding. I have since got it on a Steam Sale and have changed my opinions.Although I have only played two of the story modes I am very impressed. I put it on sleepwalk difficulty to help with my lack of skill, yes I still lost a few fights near the end! The artwork is nice and each character has a unique story. Two new characters have been added since I got the game and it seems that more will be coming, as there is an active community. There are also achievements to play for and you can compete in a two on two mode. A nice looking unique fighting game, well worth the dosh!